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TDCJ highlights new Brian Collier training center and inmate-family programs including a pilot daddy-daughter dance
Summary
The board previewed the new Brian Collier Leadership & Training Center (63,535 sq ft) that includes classrooms, barracks for 80 trainees, VR and a 50-yard indoor firing range; a ribbon cutting is scheduled for September. Executive Director Lumpkin also summarized a pilot daddy-daughter dance and announced refreshed core values (HEART).
Chairman Eric Nichols and staff walked the board through the design and schedule for the Brian Collier Leadership & Training Center, a new 63,535-square-foot facility intended as a statewide training hub for correctional staff.
The center will include modular classrooms that can be combined for multiple instructional configurations, a virtual-reality training room, recording studio, a mock cell/dynamics training area, administrative offices and dormitory-style barracks that house 80 participants. A separate enclosed indoor firing range (six lanes, rated for .308) and a memorial wall for fallen officers are part of the campus plan. Contractors reported substantial completion milestones with a contract completion target of July 22 and a planned ribbon-cutting in late September; the board intends to hold its November meeting at the new center.
Executive Director Bobby Lumpkin described a separate family- and reentry-focused pilot: a daddy-daughter dance on April 25 at the Wayne Riote unit that connected incarcerated fathers with daughters, provided donated formal wear and meals, and was run in partnership with Windham, volunteers and community organizations. Lumpkin characterized the event as a rehabilitation and family-engagement initiative that supported parenting, unit literacy classes and re-entry connection.
Lumpkin also introduced new agency core values summarized by the acronym HEART (Honor, Empathy, Accountability, Respect, Trust), saying the refresh emphasizes dignity and rehabilitation alongside security. Board members praised both the training center and family programming and discussed the potential for the new facility and the HEART values to shape training and culture across the agency.
What happens next: the training center moves toward completion and board members expect to visit the facility at ribbon-cutting events; family- and reentry-program pilots will be evaluated for broader replication across units.
